All eyes on the runway
Berlin, 1. July 2025 – Fashion is a matter of taste. How fitting, then, that in Berlin everyone can have their own taste and can express themselves freely and unrestrictedly in terms of fashion. This will be particularly evident again when the summer edition of the Berlin Fashion Week (BFW) takes place from 30 June to 3 July 2025. Where exactly cannot be answered clearly. Just like last autumn, Berlin surprises the internationally well-dressed public with versatile fashion in impressive and sometimes surprising locations. Both established labels and up-and-coming talents use the city as a colourful backdrop to present fashion that is likely to appeal to a wide variety of tastes under the strong motto “The responsible movement of freedom, inclusion, and creativity”.
The BFW fits seamlessly into the international fashion calendar and is held after the Paris Men's Fashion Week and before the Paris Haute Couture fashion shows. Invited guests will experience a total of 39 shows, including the presentations of the winners of the BFW concept competition “BERLIN CONTEMPORARY”’ in the categories “BERLIN CONTEMPORARY” and “STUDIO2RETAIL”. Since January 2023, the funding format has been awarding prize money to brands that inspire with creativity and innovation and which is financed by the Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises as part of the state initiative Project Future (co-financed by the ERDF fund) and implemented by the Fashion Council Germany. The winners in the “BERLIN CONTEMPORARY” category include Andrej Gronau, Balletshofer,Buzigahill, COLRS,David Koma, Gerrit Jacob, GmbH, Haderlump, Ioannes, Kitschy Couture, Laura Gerte, LUEDER, MARKE, Milk of Lime,Orange Culture, PALMWINE IceCREAM,Richert Beil, SF1OG and Sia Arnika. This year, the competition was opened to international labels for the first time. Three labels from Africa were successful: BUZIGAHILL from Uganda, PALMWINE IceCREAM from Ghana and Orange Culture from Nigeria. Five other South African labels are also celebrating their debut at Berlin Fashion Week. To this end, The Fashion Firm SA is sending a delegation of five South African brands to present their collections in the form of a showroom at Château Royal. The delegation is supported by the South African government and corporate partners. The Fashion Council Germany acts as host on site. The brands are Afrigarde, Connade, Floyd Avenue, Neimil and Refuse Clothing.
The “STUDIO2RETAIL” program also offers non-invited fashion lovers the opportunity to experience the BFW live. By presenting themselves and their event concepts to the broad Berlin public, brands, showrooms and stores are also taking up the motto of the fashion event in a low-threshold way. “STUDIO2RETAIL” is supported by the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises with five prizes of 5,000 euros each.
Another prize this season is sponsored by Berliner Sparkasse. The award-winning brands are APOC x Madomorpho, Effenberger Couture,Lou de Bètoly, Selva, Sezgin and Vladimir Karaleev.
The Fashion Council Germany and eBay Deutschland have also set themselves the task of creating further innovative spaces for fashion and its talents with their presentation format RAUM.Berlin. The concept combines the classic runway show with a static exhibition. From 1 to 3 July, three participating designers will present their designs and current collections in Berlin-Mitte.
After all, Berlin Partner is right in the thick of it instead of just being there. On behalf of the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, the Berlin business development agency has been carrying out the umbrella brand campaign for Berlin Fashion Week since 2007. The campaign is carried out by means of a variety of location marketing measures and with the help of media partners from the Berlin Partner network and serves to position Berlin as a fashion location nationally and internationally. Berlin Partner commissioned the Fashion Council Germany with the overall coordination and organisation as well as guest management in cooperation with the agencies Press Factory (PR communication and media relations) and Uhura Digital (digital content management and social media). Berlin Partner itself is coordinating the corresponding content creator campaign in collaboration with the social and influencer agency Intermate. So there is once again plenty to see and even more to experience this year. A visit is well worthwhile – the city extends the invitation.
